Chicago police OT surging again, despite 10-year high in manpower and all-time high in technology

The overtime surge angered Inspector General Joe Ferguson, who concluded nearly two years ago that Chicago was wasting millions on police overtime because of “inefficient management.”

SHARE Chicago police OT surging again, despite 10-year high in manpower and all-time high in technology
IMG_9360_2_.jpg

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson during a City Hall news conference earlier this week.

Fran Spielman/Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Police Department spent $67.6 million on overtime through the first six months of this year despite a 10-year high in manpower and an all-time high in technology.

With 13,350 sworn officers, strategic deployment centers in every district and area and shootings and homicides dropping, there appears to be no reason why police overtime can’t return to the $46 million-a-year that it was in 2011.

That’s when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated 1,400 police vacancies and started relying on runaway overtime to mask his shrinking police department.

But records released to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information request show just the opposite.

Through June 30, CPD spent $67.6 million, including $24.1 million during the month of June alone. June was a “double-pay period” caused by the fact that overtime is paid every 28 days. That’s up from $19.7 million for June 2018 and just $3.3 million in June 2012.

The 2019 surge in overtime is particularly troubling, considering the $25 million drop in annual overtime spending in 2018.

Overtime payments run a month behind. The period covered does include Memorial Day weekend, when Mayor Lori Lightfoot “flooded the zone” with 1,200 additional officers, only to come away with results tragically similar to previous years.

It does not include the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends and Taste of Chicago, when police overtime is traditionally at its peak.

The overtime surge angered Inspector General Joe Ferguson, who concluded nearly two years ago that Chicago was wasting millions on police overtime because of “inefficient management” that failed to control costs, eliminate fraud or prevent officer fatigue.

“That report indicated numerous, longstanding control issues, which the department committed to get on top of,” Ferguson said.

“These numbers — against a backdrop of significantly increased staffing and significant investments in technology that should permit a more surgical and precise use of personnel and staff in the field — suggest we may still have significant control issues.”

The inspector general’s office is conducting a follow-up audit to determine whether promises Police Supt. Eddie Johnson made to rein in overtime have been kept.

One promise he knows for sure lags years behind is the switch from paper-based to electronic timekeeping.

Last year, police officers began swiping in at the beginning of their shifts. On Sept. 30, the rank and file will finally move to a “second swipe” at the end of their shifts.

“The aldermen were quite upset at the numbers the IG reported out in October of 2017. CPD committed to immediate interim changes while they got on full implementation of the electronic time keeping system. To the extent that has not been fully implemented is just another cause for concern about the administrative competencies in CPD right now,” Ferguson said.

Lightfoot opted to retain Johnson during the traditionally violent summer months. But she is expected to make a longer-term decision on the superintendent’s future now that the school year has begun.

Should the surge in overtime spending be part of the equation?

“These issues are obviously important issues in relation to a larger assessment of the competencies of leadership in CPD and I have no doubt that Mayor Lightfoot is taking a look at this as well as many other things,” Ferguson said.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi noted the two-year hiring surge that added 1,000 additional officers “means court and special event costs are higher as more officers are in the field making arrests.”

“Public safety is of the utmost importance ... and we will always ensure we have the resources to meet operational demands,” Guglielmi wrote in an email to the Sun-Times.

“We also recognize our critical responsibility to be judicious with taxpayer resources, which is why the Chicago Police Department is working with the mayor’s office to not only address operational needs, but also implement a series of checks and balances to maximize our efficiency and better monitor” spending.

Struggling to close an $838 million shortfall, Lightfoot is determined to save as much as $100 million over time by driving down police overtime to the levels that it was in 2011, sources said.

Budget Director Susie Park is the police department’s former deputy chief of finance.

“What we’re trying to do is to really look bureau-by-bureau because they have personnel, which is the highest that it has been in ten years,” Park said.

“How are we using our resources? That is why we are going bureau-by-bureau to ... make sure that, with the resources they have, the technology and the people what is happening.”

In October 2017, Ferguson’s allegations about a “culture of abuse” were underscored by schemes he claimed were so prevalent, there are names for them: “trolling,” “paper jumping,” “lingering” and “DUI guys.”

The inspector general was asked Thursday whether he believes fraud accounts for at least some of the overtime surge.

“The report that we issued ... which met with some pushback in certain areas around, let’s call it looseness in overtime practices in a number of realms that, on the face of it, raise questions of whether or not people are systemically gaming the system,” he said.

“If the numbers are as the city has reported them to you, there’s still a question.”

The Latest
Despite getting into foul trouble, which limited him to just six minutes in the second half, Shannon finished with 29 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Cowboy hats, bell-bottoms and boots were on full display Thursday night as fans lined up for the first of his three sold-out shows.
The incident occurred about 3:40 p.m. near Minooka. The horse was successfully placed back into the trailer, and the highway reopened about 40 minutes later. No injuries were reported.
The Hawks conceded the game’s only two goals within the first seven minutes and were shut out for the 12th time this season in a 2-0 defeat Thursday.